Comment The key point in this story: (Score 2) 270
"Natural gas-burning power plants that benefit from a glut of cheap gas produced by hydrofracking cut wholesale electricity prices in half."
Comment Re:Cool (Score 1) 119
What's even cheaper is eradicating the instances of lifestyle diabetes - which are all of those cases of diabetes that occur by personal choice. Yes, there are autoimmune cases of diabetes, but the vast majority of diabetes cases occur by choice in people who refuse to put the fork down when they've had enough to eat, or refuse to stop drinking 5 gallons/day of sugared soda.
One of the new features of Obamacare is that insurance companies can steer you into healthy lifestyles and charge you a surcharge if you do not comply. Starting in 2014, our insurance company charges up to a $100/month-person surcharge for being "outside the fence" of acceptable measurements, which include BMI, blood pressure, fasting glucose, resting heart rate, and bodyfat percentage. You have to go in once/year for measurement, and if you are outside the box, you can remeasure again in 6 months.
We also have to turn in "verifiable workouts" either by going to an approved gym (at our expense), or log walks/runs/bike rides, etc with our smartphones - basically proving that we aren't sitting on our tails all the time. Failure to comply brings a surcharge (which is not a premium increase, btw - this is how Obama advertised that premiums would not go up. They aren't. But surcharges - oh boy...)
Not many insurance companies are doing this, but I imagine that more and more will as more and more people sign up and cost billions in treatment or obesity and inactivity-related disease.
Comment I thought they already did that? (Score 1) 415
I thought Micro-USB was already the required charging standard for phones in the EU?
Why iOS 7 Is Making Some Users Feel 'Sick' 261
dryriver sends this story from The Guardian:
"The introduction of fake zooms, parallax, sliding and other changes in Apple's new iPhone and iPad software has a very real effect on people with vestibular disorders. ... It makes frequent use of zoom and slide animations; the home screen boasts parallax, with icons apparently floating above subtly animating wallpaper. And it's making people sick. Triggers and symptoms vary, but TidePool mobile app developer Jenni Leder's experience is not uncommon. A self-professed power-user, she frequently switches apps; but on iOS 7, this has caused headaches and feelings associated with motion sickness. 'I now have to close my eyes or cover the screen during transitions, which is ridiculous,' she told The Guardian, adding that there's nowhere to hide: 'It's not apps that affect me, but accessing them. Tap a folder and the view zooms in. Tap an app and it's like flying through the icon and landing in that app's micro world — and I'm getting dizzy on the journey there.' Reactions to screen-based systems — especially those utilizing 3D effects — aren't new. Cynthia Ryan, executive director of the Vestibular Disorders Association, says 3D effects can cause 'intense nausea, dizziness and vertigo,' sometimes from general vision problems, but also from visual-vestibular conflict. She added symptoms 'manifest more severely if a viewer already has a disorder of the vestibular system.'"
Cricket Reactor Inventor Says $1mil Prize Winners Stole His Work 131
An anonymous reader writes "A group of Montreal MBA students took home this year's million-dollar Hult Prize, winning a competition for socially innovative business ideas that calls itself 'one of the planet's leading forces for good.' But now the ethics of the winners and the prize committee are being called into question. McGill PhD researcher Jakub Dzamba says that after he supplied the idea and design behind their pitch, products of years of development work, the team reneged on its promises to make him a partner and is instead taking credit for his work. Apparently, Hult knew about the issue before it awarded the prize." Yes, these are the students whose win garnered $1 million awarded by Bill Clinton.
Senators Push To Preserve NSA Phone Surveillance 252
cold fjord writes "The New York times reports that the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Vice Chairman, Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), are moving a bill forward that would 'change but preserve' the controversial NSA phone log program. Senator Feinstein believes the program is legal, but wants to improve public confidence. The bill would reduce the time the logs could be kept, require public reports on how often it is used, and require FISA court review of the numbers searched. The bill would require Senate confirmation of the NSA director. It would also give the NSA a one week grace period in applying for permission from a court to continue surveillance of someone that travels from overseas to the United States. The situation created by someone traveling from overseas to the United States has been the source of the largest number of incidents in the US in which NSA's surveillance rules were not properly complied with. The rival bill offered by Senators Wyden (D-OR) and Udall (D-CO) which imposes tougher restrictions is considered less likely to pass."
Comment Re:Illegal in Texas (Score 1) 182
No, it would not be illegal in Texas, because Nissan has dealers in Texas that can service the warranty on your car. Besides, you're not buying the car from Amazon. They are just connecting you with a dealer and getting a commission for sending them a sap who is willing to pay sticker price for a made-in-China rattlebox like the Versa.
Comment Re:3 milleseconds look right to me. (Score 1) 740
Velocity factor of the fiber, and latency of any switches in between.
Comment No, we've already seen it (Score 1) 631
That ship sailed a loooooong time ago.
Server still isn't too bad, but Desktop is a botched abortion.
Comment Re:Red light / green light (Score 1) 1440
I have found that, when in that situation, copious use of the horn and a certain appendage on the hand is appropriate.
Apple Sells Nine Million iPhones Over Weekend 432
Nerval's Lobster writes "Apple managed to sell nine million iPhones over the weekend, with the company claiming its initial supply of high-end iPhone 5S units completely sold out. Apple didn't sell out of the new iPhone 5C, its plastic-cased (and cheaper) alternative to the iPhone 5S; models are still available for shipment within 24 hours from Apple's online store. And the iPhone 5S selling out is no surprise: in the weeks ahead of the new iPhones' launch, rumors persisted that the initial production run of the device was relatively small in scope, which would make it far easier for Apple to sell out of its first batch. But how many iPhone 5C units did Apple actually manage to sell? In August, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that Apple would produce just over 5 million iPhone 5S units ahead of the device's launch weekend; if that number's accurate, and Apple sold every single one, it would mean Apple sold roughly 4 million iPhone 5C units in order to reach that 9-million-sold figure for both models. That's an impressive figure for any smartphone, of course, and it could quiet some of the naysayers who have spent the past several months suggesting that Apple's best years are behind it."
Comment It's a Marketing Job (Score 1) 177
The posting itself is slashdotted right now, but I'd bet dollars to donuts the requirements include a long list of marketing skills, since that is undoubtedly what this job really is.
NSA Posts Opening For "Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer" 177
cold fjord writes "The Hill reports, 'The National Security Agency has posted a job opening for a privacy and civil liberties officer. The position was first mentioned last month, when President Obama outlined his plans to bring more transparency to the NSA surveillance programs. A White House press release said the agency was "taking steps to put in place a full time Civil Liberties and Privacy Officer."' — From the NSA job posting: 'The NSA Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer (CLPO) is conceived as a completely new role, combining the separate responsibilities of NSA's existing Civil Liberties and Privacy (CL/P) protection programs under a single official. The CLPO will serve as the primary advisor to the Director of NSA for ensuring that privacy is protected and civil liberties are maintained by all of NSA's missions, programs, policies and technologies. This new position is focused on the future, designed to directly enhance decision making and to ensure that CL/P protections continue to be baked into NSA's future operations, technologies, tradecraft, and policies. The NSA CLPO will consult regularly with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence CLPO, privacy and civil liberties officials from the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice, as well as other U.S. government, private sector, public advocacy groups and foreign partners. '"
Comment Re:Time? (Score 1) 481
You can only remote-wipe the phone if the phone is on a network that allows it to phone home.
Comment Re:The bandwidth of a human. (Score 2, Insightful) 208
If you're trying to smuggle your own data across the border without it being copied by the NSA (as is routine for entry into the US for CBP to confiscate and make an image of your laptop HDD for NSA), swallowing a MicroSD is not so implausible or impractical.
